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James Stuart (Historical)
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – January 23, 1570) was the illegitimate son of King James V, and Regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. Early Life James was born in about 1531, the most notable of the many illegitimate children of King James V of Scotland. His mother was the King's favorite mistress, Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine, and wife of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven. On August 31, 1536 he had a charter of the lands of Tantallon and others. James was appointed Prior of St Andrews, Fife, in his youth in 1538. This position supplied his income. As early as May 1553, the imperial ambassador to England, Jean Scheyfve, heard that Mary of Guise planned to make him Regent of Scotland in place of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault. Adulthood James became a supporter of the Scottish Reformation. At Perth in June 1559 he plucked down the images in various churches. An English commentator praised James for his virtue, manhood, valour and stoutness as a leader of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation. Despite their religious differences, Moray became the chief advisor to his sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1561 after her return from France. She was the only surviving child of his father's marriage to Mary of Guise. Although James disturbed her priests celebrating mass at Holyroodhouse in September 1561, she made him Earl of Moray and Earl of Mar the following year. With the earldom came Darnaway Castle with its medieval hall, notable even then as "verie fayer and large builded." Moray also had a smaller house called Pitlethie near Leuchars in Fife, which his father had used. Moray opposed the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Lord Darnley in 1565, and he embarked upon the unsuccessful Chaseabout Raid, together with the Earl of Argyll and Clan Hamilton. He was subsequently declared an outlaw and took refuge in England. Returning to Scotland after the murder of David Rizzio, he was pardoned by the Queen. He contrived, however, to be away at the time of Darnley's assassination, and avoided the tangles of the marriage with Bothwell by going to France. Regency Mary abdicated at Loch Leven Castle on July 24, 1567. Moray returned to Edinburgh from France on August 11, 1567, escorted from Berwick-upon-Tweed by James Melville of Halhill, with a French ambassador, De Lignerolles. William Cecil, the English secretary of State had arranged his transport from Dieppe in an English ship. He was appointed Regent of Scotland on August 22. The appointment was confirmed by Parliament in December. When Mary escaped from Loch Leven on May 2, 1568 the Duke of Chatelherault and other nobles rallied to her standard, but Moray gathered his allies and defeated her forces at the Battle of Langside, near Glasgow on May 13, 1568. Mary was compelled to flee to England. For this and the subsequent management of the kingdom he secured both civil and ecclesiastical peace, and earned the title of "The Gude Regent". In September 1568, Moray chose commissioners and went to York to discuss a treaty with England. During this conference he produced the casket letters, which were supposed to incriminate Queen Mary, and justify his rule in Scotland. It was later said that a plan to assassinate him at North Allerton on his way back had been called off. Scotland was now in a state of civil war. Moray moved against the supporters of Queen Mary in their south-west homelands with a military expedition in June 1568 called the 'Raid of Dumfries' or 'Raid of Hoddom.' The Regent's army and the royal artillery was taken to Biggar, where his allies were commanded to muster on 10 June, and on to Dumfries. The army was protected by a scouting party led by Alexander Hume of Manderston, the vanguard was commanded by the Earl of Morton and Lord Hume. Behind was the 'carriage', the artillery train, followed by Moray himself. The Laird of Cessford followed behind, and the army was flanked by the scouting parties of the Lairds of Merse and Buccleuch. Along the way Moray captured houses belonging to supporters of Queen Mary, including Lord Fleming's Boghall, Skirling, Crawford, Sanquhar, Kenmuir, and Hoddom where the cannon were deployed, and Annan where he rendezvoused with Lord Scrope the Captain of Carlisle Castle to discuss border matters. Scrope estimated the army to number 6,000 men, and returned to Carlisle where he saw Queen Mary's servants play football on June 14. Moray then took Lochmaben Castle, which the Laird of Drumlanrig was left to hold, and then captured Lochwood and Lochhouse before returning to Edinburgh via Peebles. At Dumfries, a number of Lord Maxwell's supporters surrendered. Moray was responsible for the destruction of Rutherglen castle, which he burned to the ground in 1569 in retribution against the Hamiltons for having supported Mary at the Battle of Langside. In June 1569 Moray went north to Brechin where he accepted hostages sent by the Earl of Huntley, then at Dunnotar Castle he proclaimed that he had, arrived in proper person (as Regent) to thir north partis of firm purpose and deliberation to reduce sic as hes neglectit their duty in time bypast ..., intending to use leniency and moderation." At Aberdeen he held talks with Huntly himself. At Inverness, on June 4, 1569, Moray met the Highland and Island chiefs with the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland and Lord Lovat . His secretary, John Wood, said "such a power had seldom been seen there," Moray wrote that "the journey is to put down troubles in the north. Marriage & Family On February 8, 1561 at Holyrood Palace; James married Agnes Keith (c. 1540 – July 16, 1588) who was the daughter of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal and Margaret Keith, Countess of Marischal. The couple had a happy marriage and 3 daughters *Elizabeth Stewart, 2nd Countess of Moray (late 1565 – November 18, 1591), on January 23, 1581 she married James Stewart of Doune, by whom she had five children including James Stewart, 3rd Earl of Moray. *Lady Annabell Stewart (May 22, 1568 – 1570) *Lady Margaret Stewart, (born posthumously late January/18 April 1570 – before August 3, 1586), in 1584 she married Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Errol. The marriage was childless. Assasination James was assassinated in Linlithgow on January 23, 1570 by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a supporter of Mary. As Moray was passing in a cavalcade in the main street below, Hamilton fatally wounded him with a carbine shot from a window of his uncle Archbishop Hamilton's house. It was the first recorded assassination by a firearm. The Regent's body was shipped to Leith then taken to Holyrood Abbey. Moray was buried on February 14, 1570 in St. Anthony's aisle at St. Giles, Edinburgh. Gallery James_V_of_Scotland2.jpg|King James V of Scotland, James' father Unknowncharacter.png|Lady Margaret Erskine, James' mother and mistress of King James V. 800px-Agnes_Keith_Countess_of_Moray.png|Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray: wife of James Stuart. Darnaway_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_13190.jpg|Darnaway Castle: home of James, Earl of Moray James_IV_of_Scotland.jpg|King James IV of Scotland, James' Paternal Grandfather Margaret_Tudor (1).jpg|Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland; James' Paternal Grandmother. Category:History Category:Historical Figure Category:Protestant Category:Royal Category:Scottish Category:House of Stuart